What Does An Expat Miss About Home?

[cobra]

Where ever you go, then there you are. Maybe a bit simplistic but the grass is always greener syndrome eventually rears it's head.

IMHO the ideal situation would be to rotate between locales, seasonally, bi-annually, whatever works.

[qwertz]

Where ever you go, then there you are. Maybe a bit simplistic but the grass is always greener syndrome eventually rears it's head.

IMHO the ideal situation would be to rotate between locales, seasonally, bi-annually, whatever works.

That's exactly my aim, cobra. Just juggling my finance this very moment.

[oooooo]

I miss (from the US):

Mexican food

live English language theater

Chinese food -- certain types I can't get here

legal sex toys (don't ask, oh, I guess you did)

reasonably priced good wine

Overall, not too much. I can amuse myself with other foods, and movies will have to do as a replacement for live theater.

cigars are as legal here in thailand as they were in the oval office under the clinton administration.

[cloudhopper]

College football, good Mexican food with a Corona and lime,

My list is getting smaller, all the time!

[leisurely]

Agree with previous poster, my list is getting smaller all the time. Most food I can either make myself, buy at outrageously inflated prices or live without. It is things like my aging parents and my friends. I think that here Ihave made acquaintances in the UK I had friends. Big difference. Still, must just get on with it

[PhilHarries]

When friends come over from they UK they bring me two things ... mature, mouth puckering, cheddar cheese and Walkers cheese and onion crisps.

Fark ! I love cheese

Don't know when was the last time you had Walker's crisps but nowadays they're cooked with sooper dooper healthy low cholesterol sunseed oil (or some other such health nut <deleted>) and they are completely fahrking tasteless!

Some posters have made reference to the old humbug "if you miss it that much why are you here/there?"

This attitude completely misses the fact that life is all about balancing the equation and that involves compromises. No matter how much you love your current "home" there are always the little things, apart from family, you sometimes miss. They creep up on you without warning, in the supermarket gazing at the array of plastic blocks masquerading as cheese you suddenly think of that mature cheddar or stilton with fresh bread, a little salad, some pickled onions, washed down with rough farmhouse cider.

But that's what return trips are all about, indulging in all your fantasies and then getting the bill . That and realising that the things you really miss either weren't that great or have disappeared/changed.

What I miss is walking into a pub and having a choice of six or more traditional English beers to choose from. What I don't miss is the taxi fare being more than the drinks bill.

[cdnvic]

Don't know when was the last time you had Walker's crisps but nowadays they're cooked with sooper dooper healthy low cholesterol sunseed oil (or some other such health nut <deleted>) and they are completely fahrking tasteless!

KFC did the same thing in Canada, switching to some "healthy" grease to fry their chicken in.

I never knew how delicious trans fats were until they were gone.

[davidjtayler]

Don't know when was the last time you had Walker's crisps but nowadays they're cooked with sooper dooper healthy low cholesterol sunseed oil (or some other such health nut <deleted>) and they are completely fahrking tasteless!

KFC did the same thing in Canada, switching to some "healthy" grease to fry their chicken in.

I never knew how delicious trans fats were until they were gone.

That KFC original chicken gravy with mashed potato ... booooootiful !

[Juzrelax]

Spacial awareness.

I miss people with spacial awareness.

Me too. You've hit the nail right on the head... For a Buddhist country that has "The Dhamma" which teaches (or is meant to) FULL awareness of EVERYTHING.. I have yet to see this put to practice here..Oh, and i miss Aussie Rules Football..Even though i get it on cable here..

Which cable company is that through? Can you get the cricket too?

Sport is the major thing that I will miss when I get there, AFL on cable in Thailand, Im excited!

[Lucifer]

OK. you sad gits. I'm in England right now. Anyone of you wanna swap?

[qwertz]

OK. you sad gits. I'm in England right now. Anyone of you wanna swap?

No way! I'm still better off sausage side than back in Manchester. I'd miss the German beer then.

[Donnyboy]

OK. you sad gits. I'm in England right now. Anyone of you wanna swap?

not unless I end up in a Thai jail........which is highly unbloody-likely

[duke69]

- family

- friends

- clean not polluted air

- riding my DUCATI

- planning a future with long term in stable personal condition (in other words not living on a 2-3 yrs contract base)

- law and order or at least fairness in the mistakes

- good and almost free education

- non VIPs mentality

- normality

- free time and HOBBIES

- my dog

- driving 1000 km through Europe without any prob, plan, ..... just gas in the tank

- I miss to complain about how bad was life back in Europe

- miss the week-ends always full of plans and activities

- walking to go from A to B

- EDUCATED PEOPLE WHO CAN HANDLE A DISCUSSION WHICH IS NOT PREMIER LEAGUE

Being Expat has many pros (high salary as the main) but the salary is high because our MNC is paying us not just for the job done but also for all these things we miss, living abroad is like being in a limbo with UPs and DOWNs and the impossibility to plan life in the long term for myself and my family, ....... I barely understand who comes to Thailand just for choice without a job ...... (it is sad to fence what is left of a person's life only on Sex and cheap life or the feeling to be considered a VIP, while back in Europe they feel like losers, after a while they feel losers also in Thailand or Malaysia or anywhere else)..

[chiang mai]

I miss a sense of history and tradition, old architecture, a fair police force, knowing that if I had an accident people around me would know what to do and that an ambulance would be called, driving in predictable conditions, being able to read a current newspaper and read something informative and intellectually stimulating, good bread, real cheese, cleaner air, not sweating so much, England's green countryside and probably more.

If you miss that sh#t so much ..What are you doing in thailand

Thanks so much, I win my 500 baht bet. I bet my best friend that at least one idiot would reply with exactly that phrase. He reckoned that given the nature of the thread not even the lowest IQ would miss the point but it just goes to show.

[chiang mai]

- family

- friends

- clean not polluted air

- riding my DUCATI

- planning a future with long term in stable personal condition (in other words not living on a 2-3 yrs contract base)

- law and order or at least fairness in the mistakes

- good and almost free education

- non VIPs mentality

- normality

- free time and HOBBIES

- my dog

- driving 1000 km through Europe without any prob, plan, ..... just gas in the tank

- I miss to complain about how bad was life back in Europe

- miss the week-ends always full of plans and activities

- walking to go from A to B

- EDUCATED PEOPLE WHO CAN HANDLE A DISCUSSION WHICH IS NOT PREMIER LEAGUE

Being Expat has many pros (high salary as the main) but the salary is high because our MNC is paying us not just for the job done but also for all these things we miss, living abroad is like being in a limbo with UPs and DOWNs and the impossibility to plan life in the long term for myself and my family, ....... I barely understand who comes to Thailand just for choice without a job ...... (it is sad to fence what is left of a person's life only on Sex and cheap life or the feeling to be considered a VIP, while back in Europe they feel like losers, after a while they feel losers also in Thailand or Malaysia or anywhere else)..

Agreed 100%.

[qwertz]

I miss family friendly shopping centres with ramps and lifts for strollers and parents rooms with baby change tables and kiddie sized toilets.......

A pity you couldn't have brought a German stroller with you. They have 4 wheels on each axle and you can even get them up and down steps. The Germans seem to have a gadget for everything, I think they lie awake nights inventing things. You'd need caterpillar tracks to negotiate the kerbs in Pattaya and Phuket's not much better but I reckon one of those things would work for you. As for toilet facilities - that's LOS, what are you gonna do?

[cdnvic]

That's one thing that really impressed my wife when she got to Canada, was the accessibility of everything to people in wheelchairs and walkers. I couldn't imagine trying to get around in Thailand in one.

[ercorn]

I miss Hokey Pokey ice cream yum yum....

[kratindaeng]

My Mum

Decent bacon

Hob Nobs

Mustard

Drunk fat girls

Kebabs

Brit comedy

Good new music

Oh borrocks! im going back to Peckham

55555555!

[pampal]

My Mum

Decent bacon

Hob Nobs

Mustard

Drunk fat girls

Kebabs

Brit comedy

Good new music

Oh borrocks! im going back to Peckham

55555555!

Lots of drunk fat girls on Khao sarn the last time I looked, which is pretty much nightly.

[Pakboong]

skilled listening.

[Austhaied]

Decent (affordable) lamb chops..

Edited March 8, 2007 by Austhaied

[qwertz]

Decent (affordable) lamb chops..

Sunday dinner with my daughters.

[duratanium]

People who speak the same language so can have a good banter with them ........ and fish n chips .... back in the UK for a month now and first meal was fish n chips .... scrumptious!!

Bangers and mash, good bacon butties etc.... oh oh!! my cholesterol level is up again - where are my simvastatins!!

LOS still a great place though

[khall64au]

Cheap avocados, tuna and salmon fillets... and and and gluten-free everythings!!!!

[qwertz]

Car boot sales. Biking round the Pennines. Roamer bus tickets.

[pampal]

Really tall mountains that I can bike down.

Not the mole hills they have here, and that includes the northern mountains like Doi Suthep etc....

[besth]

Although the OP mentioned in a reminder that he was thinking about "things" when he opened the thread, I must say that, as many others who have posted, the main "miss" is family and friends.

As for things, yes there are some things that I'd like to be able to find in Thailand, but there are also some Thai things that I miss now that I'm away for a while.

For a few years, I kept packing those things every time I had to go from one end of the world to the other. I don't do it anymore and that makes it even more enjoyable when I can get them again.

[TukTukDodger]

You can get just about anything in NYC, but there are a few things I miss(edibles) from other places I have lived that you just can't find here:

Lilikoi(passionfruit) chiffon cake

Spam musubi

POG

Hawaiian mangoes and bananas from my neighbor's yard

Liliha Bakery coco puffs(from the last 5 items you can tell I grew up in Hawaii)

Real fish 'n' chips

Walker's steak 'n' onion crisps

Bourbon biscuits

Jammie Dodgers

Masala flavor Lay's chips/crisps(only available in India and Nepal)

Chili chips

Nepali rice donuts

Bhaktapur dahi

Yak-cheese pizza

Buff momos

Sekuti

Since I will be going back to Nepal soon I will get to enjoy the last 7 things on my list.. I am sure when I am in Thailand I will learn to enjoy other things which I will then miss when I come back to NYC...

[dominique355]

....... I barely understand who comes to Thailand just for choice without a job ...... (it is sad to fence what is left of a person's life only on Sex and cheap life or the feeling to be considered a VIP, while back in Europe they feel like losers, after a while they feel losers also in Thailand or Malaysia or anywhere else)..

I choose to come and live in Thailand, I have no job ... am I a sad looser? I am here on a retirement visa, living with my family and kids and I feel like a VIP (VIP to my family).

I have been here now for 8 months, but there is nothing I really really miss from back home. Here in Bangkok, I can get just about everything, except Gillette Fusion razor blades. Seems like Thais don't shave.

I certainly don't miss the miserable weather and mood during the winter months in Europe, weeks without ever seeing the sun. And I am so happy having escaped Christmas and all the phony exchanges of stupid presents.

If I ever have an urgent need for snow or ice, there are 2 daily flight BKK - Zurich. So far I could save that expense.